Laguna Dance Festival offers stars, variety, new work

April 15, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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William Cannon lifts Chloe Felesina during their performance of "The Last Glass" at the Laguna Dance Festival. Despite its shoestring budget, the seventh annual Laguna Dance Festival contained plenty of talent and ambition during its four-day run at the Laguna Playhouse. And despite the challenging times, the house looked full. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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William Cannon and Chloe Felesina perform in the world premiere of "Delicate Balance" at the Laguna Dance Festival. “Delicate Balance,” commissioned and performed by BalletX, is the most ambitious project yet in Gates' relatively short career as a choreographer. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Adam Hundt performs in "The Last Glass" at the Laguna Dance Festival. “The Last Glass” was a delightful mash-up of styles and un-terpsichorean moments – ballet, social dance, mime, some harmless downstage flirting. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Balletx performs in the world premiere of "Delicate Balance" at the seventh annual Laguna Dance Festival. “Delicate Balance” is a bit under-choreographed in places, particularly entrances and exits, and Michael Korsch's lighting didn't always show BalletX's capable dancers to advantage. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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William Cannon and Chloe Felesina perform at the Laguna Dance Festival at the Laguna Playhouse. Artistic director Jodie Gates brought in two inventive and dynamic companies, River North Dance Chicago and Philadelphia's BalletX, for the festival's first two nights on Thursday and Friday. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Anitra N. Keegan is lifted during hey performance of "Largo" at the Laguna Dance Festival. “Largo” was a thoughtfully proportioned and often graceful study for six dancers, set mainly to a string version of Bach's Goldberg Variations. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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William Cannon land Chloe Felesina perform in "The Last Glass" at the Laguna Dance Festival. With a whimsical score by distinctive indie band Beirut, “The Last Glass” seemed to be telling a lively story whose meaning was just beyond our grasp. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Adam Hundt and Allison Walsh perform in "The Last Glass" at this years Laguna Dance Festival. Matthew Neenan is a bold and nervy choreographer who isn't afraid to let different aesthetics duke it out center stage. The result, while not always pretty and sometimes gratuitous, is never dull. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Willy Laury lifts Allison Walsh during their performance of "The Last Glass" at the Laguna Dance Festival. Choreographer Matthew Neenan is a co-founder and co-director of Philadelphia's BalletX. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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BalletX performs "The Last Glass" choreographed by Matthew Neenan at the Laguna Dance Festival. Long excerpts from “Delicate Balance” and “The Last Glass” were performed again on Saturday evening, along with a busy and high-energy Gates work for her UC Irvine dance students, “Mein Zimmer.” TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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BalletX performs "The Last Glass" choreographed by Matthew Neenan at the Laguna Dance Festival. The Philadelphia company has performed at past Laguna Dance Festivals, and it has developed a close relationship with festival artistic director Jodie Gates. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Colby Damon of BalletX performs at the Laguna Dance Festival Friday night. The company commissioned Laguna Dance Festival artistic director to choreograph a major work. The result, "Delicate Balance," made its world premiere Friday at the festival. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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BalletX performs "The Last Glass" choreographed by Matthew Neenan at the Laguna Dance Festival Friday evening. It's a small, well-disciplined ensemble with excellent ballet training that specializes in challenging new work. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Adam Hundt lifts Allison Walsh during their performance at this years Laguna Dance Festival. Though its budget was a minuscule $150,000, the festival featured the usual star-studded line-up this year. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A BalletX dancer. The company commissioned Laguna Dance Festival artistic director Jodie Gates to choreograph a new work. It will make its debut later this month at the festival, then receives additional performances in Philadelphia and New York. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY CHRIS CRISMAN

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Philadelphia's BalletX is a young company but has already established a reputation in the northeast for challenging and imaginative choreography and programming. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY ALEXANDER IZILIAEV

William Cannon lifts Chloe Felesina during their performance of "The Last Glass" at the Laguna Dance Festival. Despite its shoestring budget, the seventh annual Laguna Dance Festival contained plenty of talent and ambition during its four-day run at the Laguna Playhouse. And despite the challenging times, the house looked full. TEXT BY PAUL HODGINS, PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Laguna Dance Festival

Where: Laguna Playhouse

When: April 12-15

Despite its shoestring budget, the seventh annual Laguna Dance Festival contained plenty of talent and ambition during its four-day run at the Laguna Playhouse. And despite the challenging times, the house looked full.

Artistic director Jodie Gates brought in two inventive and dynamic companies, River North Dance Chicago and Philadelphia's BalletX, for the festival's first two nights on Thursday and Friday.

On Saturday and Sunday dance fans were treated to a gallery of ballet stars, including New York City Ballet principals Joaquin De Luz and Tiler Peck.

Friday offered something special for longtime followers of the festival and its leader and founder. They had come to see what Gates had created, and expectations were high: "Delicate Balance," commissioned and performed by BalletX, is the most ambitious project yet in Gates' relatively short career as a choreographer (she is better known as a former principal dancer with the Joffrey, Frankfurt and Pennsylvania ballets.)

Set to music byArvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and several other contemporary composers, "Delicate Balance" is a rigorously yet uniquely structured work for five men and five women.

"Delicate Balance" ends with a powerful extended pas de deux by Chloe Horne and William Cannon that frequently defies choreographic convention and expectations. It contains a satisfying dramatic arc, though its sense of completeness is undermined by the sudden appearance of a soloist at the end, frozen in a shape that we recognize from the beginning of the work. The moment seems superfluous.

"Delicate Balance" is a bit under-choreographed in places, particularly entrances and exits, and Michael Korsch's lighting didn't always show BalletX's capable dancers to advantage (perhaps the final image would work if the lighting was reconsidered).

But Gates has created a richly textured, deftly crafted and at times profound work. I'm confident it will get burnished into fine form by the time it is repeated later this year in Philadelphia and at New York's Gotham Dance Festival.

Thursday's program was rounded out by two contrasting choreographies: "Largo" by Taiwan-born Edwaard Liang and "The Last Glass" by BalletX co-director Matthew Neenan.

"Largo" was a thoughtfully proportioned and often graceful study for six dancers, set mainly to a string version of Bach's Goldberg Variations. It was an excellent concert opener, though Liang's pleasing movement phrases were marred by too much unison.

Neenan's "The Last Glass" was a delightful mash-up of styles and un-terpsichorean moments – ballet, social dance, mime, some harmless downstage flirting. With a whimsical score by distinctive indie band Beirut, "The Last Glass" seemed to be telling a lively story whose meaning was just beyond our grasp.

Neenan is a bold and nervy choreographer who isn't afraid to let different aesthetics duke it out center stage. The result, while not always pretty and sometimes gratuitous, is never dull.

Saturday's gala performance, as usual, was a smorgasbord of styles and forces.

Long excerpts from "Delicate Balance" and "The Last Glass" were performed again, along with a busy and high-energy Gates work for her UC Irvine dance students, "Mein Zimmer."

But it was the soloists who stole the evening.

Peck and De Luz dazzled in two familiar Balanchine choreographies, "Rubies Pas de Deux" from "Jewels" and "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux," set to an abandoned addition to "Swan Lake" by Peter Tchaikovsky. Peck's arms, always spectacularly controlled, were mesmerizing; so was De Luz's powerful yet tasteful athleticism during his solos.

They were nicely counterbalanced by a crowd-pleasing pair of Russians, Maria Mosina and Alexei Tyukov, who dance with the Colorado Ballet. Their clean-lined classicism was beautifully showcased in Asaf Messerer's "Spring Waters" and Nicholas Beriosoff's "Esmerelda."

San Francisco's Smuin Ballet was represented by Robin Cornwell and Jonathan Dummar, who were memorably sensual in a Carmen McRae version of Gershwin's "The Man I Love." The pair demonstrated their electrifying tango gifts in "El Pollito."

But the crowd's favorite was undoubtedly "It's Not a Cry," a deeply moving pas de deux by BalletX's Horne and Cannon, who equaled the intense performance energy they delivered in Gates' "Delicate Balance." Choreographer Amy Seiwert avoided predictability and cliché – no easy feat when using Leonard Cohen's wonderful but overexposed "Hallelujah" as a score.

Despite the sometimes spotty lighting, the dancer's performances seemed unusually intimate and communicative on the playhouse's wide proscenium stage. The Laguna Dance Festival is a good fit for this venue, and it seems appropriate – Laguna's biggest annual dance event should take place in its signature theater.

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